Any love for Gordon Lightfoot?

My personal top ten favorites on Gordon Lightfoot---

Ode To Big Blue
Carefree Highway
If You Could Read My Mind
Old Dan's Records
You Are What I Am
Dream Street Rose
Sundown
Beautiful
Approaching Lavender
Seven Island Suite

 

Bob: I endorse this folkie

 

I don't want to discourage you from attending, but be sure to check out recent concert footage on YouTube to see what his current performances sound like. That way you'll know what you'll be getting and your expectations will be in check. He's got a great band and still puts in a great effort, but his voice is no longer as rich as it used to be. He can sound a bit thin and breathless at times. Again, that's not a reason to skip him, but it's good to know what to expect. Think of his concerts as a celebration of his great song catalog, with less emphasis on reproducing the type of vocals you hear on the records.

 

Bob Dylan has plenty.

 

I too would like to know... lightfoot.ca has tour dates and many set lists. He has played If You could read my mind, beautiful, alberta bound, carefree highway, sundown, the wreck, railroad trilogy etc.etc. - so many more of his radio hits for years and years - he does about 28 tunes per concert..some are strung together to give the audience a few more of the tunes they love.. but NONE of his radio hits? i find that hard to believe. I've been to over a hundred and most of those are since 1998/1999...

 

Exactly. Fans who saw him once/twice back in the 70's and have no idea will of course be surprised. The baritone and deep richness is not there but the voice is Lightfoot and there is no doubt he still holds the audience captive.. For the thousands and thousands who still see him the relatively few who are disappointed need to just stay home and put the radio on. The LIVE concert experience at a Lightfoot show is still wholly memorable for the perfection and quality of the tunes sung by a man who has lived those songs. Many of the videos of concerts is mine at lightfootfan channel.. There are also great videos from some festivals in the last few years.

 

Agreed. Lightfoot has toured in the western states a few times in the last decade, came to western Colorado twice, the last time three years ago. It is kind of sad that he's not the same as he was, but the audience loved him. A lot! If he ever comes back my way again, I'd see him again!

 

Does anyone know if he played "The Watchman's Gone" earlier in his career? I know he's added it to setlists in the past few years... just wondering if it was ever played earlier on.

 

Saw him back in the 70s three or four times. He has always been one of my favorite folkies. I always liked his concerts better than his albums , except for A Sunday Concert, due to the lack of over-production or orchestration. With just a bass and accompanying guitarist and his own 12 string he was magical. Remember seeing him right before Summer Side of Life came out. He did almost all the songs and it was an amazing concert. Then I went out and bought the album and couldn't believe how different every song sounded with all the added production. After seeing/hearing it live it seemed so unnecessary to add all the strings, etc...really made me appreciate the concerts even more. I always liked The Yarmouth Castle on A Sunday Concert and thought it was one of his underrated songs. I remember him introducing it at one of the his concerts by saying, "I wrote this song when a lot of heavy things were going down". He had a dry sense of humor.

 

LOVE Gordon!!! Saw him about 12 years ago and he of course didn't have a lot of oomph to his voice but as my father said "but you still know it's him"! Quite true......I hope he plays as long as he wants to, why not?!

 

' Canadian Railroad Trilogy ' is a fantastic song with incredible imagery. This kind of songwriting does not exist anymore. How could it? I'm going to play it right now. Suggest everyone --especially my fellow Canucks- do the same.
Cheers.

 

If you were a kid in the 60's and a teenager in the 70's in Toronto, you likely loved him!

My Dad got me into Lightfoot in the 60's and made me a lifelong fan.
We both saw him at Massey Hall back in the 80's a few times together. They were special outings for us.

Gordon Lightfoot is one of the finest singer/songwriters this country's ever produced. I told him that "live in person" on Much Music in 1999 when the box set "Songbook" was released and he did an "Intimate And Interactive" special that I was invited to.

I got that 4 CD set autographed by him and it's looks really nice!

I recently said Hello to him at a Dylan show at the Sony Centre here. He used to live near my old neighbourhood (in "Rosedale", Toronto) so I saw him around a lot and always said Hello; as a result he got to know who I was: a fan.

In short, I love the man.

 

I learned this song before I really knew who Gord was. One summer, while attending summer camp (likely mid-80s or a bit earlier), one of the canoe trippers who was leading the trip I was on sang the Canadian Railroad Trilogy all the time as we canoed. The song always takes me back to that. Really doesn't get any more Canadian than learning Gord's Canadian Railroad Trilogy while on a canoe trip in Ontario.

 

lightfoot.ca has tour dates going back to 1974 (previous years are being compiled) and many dates have setlists noted.. It mason the SUNDOWN album and he more than likely would have performed it before it was released and in 1973 - 1974 dates have it listed and it's also noted in 1975..I only checked that far but check out the website.. lots of info!!

 

Canada's greatest songwriter, I'd say. I like quite a bit of his '60s material, maybe early '70s too, although I was never crazy about Sundown. Songs like Ribbon of Darkness are more my preference. He also did a great cover of Dylan's Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues in 1965.

I gotta post this great up-tempo pop track from '66, Spin Spin:

 

WALL STREET JOURNAL - new article / photos - (lots of topics at corfid.com and lightfoot.ca has comprehensive info about all things Lightfoot) Gordon Lightfoot Made His Singing Debut Over the P.A. System in Grade School

 

yes, Jim Croce was heavily influenced by Gord...check out his very early work...Gord's influence is there...even Jim's 12 string sounded liked Gord!

 

What a great site! I saw Gord many years ago at the Garden State Arts Center in NJ. I recall the show very fondly, but for the life of me could not remember when it was. Looking at the old tour dates, now at least I’ve narrowed it down to between 1979-1984. *laughs*. I’ve loved his music since I was in high school, and every few years I seem to go through a big Gordon Lightfoot phase where I can’t stop listening to him for days. Such great songs, and one of my favorite voices ever.

 

The only Lightfoot I’ve listened to are the tracks from “Gord’s Gold.”

 

17 year old here - Gordon Lightfoot is easily one of my top-10 favorite musicians (if I were forced to make a list...)
His United Artists catalog is absolutely wonderful, as are Summer Side of Life, Don Quixote, Sundown, the list goes on and on. Great songwriter, great vocalist. I listen to him while biking, while boating, while driving, while relaxing, and love his music through it all. Truly versatile stuff! Saw him around two years ago when he came to Pittsburgh.

Really glad to see a thread like this for Gordo!

 

The United Artists Collection does a nice job of wrapping up pretty much everything he released with UA on one two CD set...
https://www.amazon.com/United-Artists-Collection-Gordon-Lightfoot/dp/B00000DQO2
A must-have for any Gordon Lightfoot fanatic - unless, of course, you've got the original vinyl. Even then, it's still nice to have as you'll probably fall in love with the music contained so much that you'll want to be able to take it on the go with you

 

I'd forgotten all about that. I recall listening to an album of Jim & Ingrid Croce together, and the influence was definitely there, and strong! Croce developed into quite the singer/songwriter himself, too!

 

Elvis was a fan too! He covered "Early Morning Rain" and "For Lovin' Me," with the former being done many times in concert in 1976 and 1977 (plus a few shows from 1974 and 1975 too)... and it appeared on the US broadcast of the 1973 Aloha From Hawaii special.

 

Haven't listened to Jim Croce much. Will check him out.

 

Sundown is an almost forgotten classic. Might be a top 20 album for me.